Kenya Colonialism, Essay Example

Colonialism is a term used when one nation takes control of another nation or country.  Colonialism was observed in the 1800s as the Europeans colonized over 85% of the land.  Colonialism, therefore, had a huge effect of the entire world population and continues to have effects as colonial rulers lost control of land. (The DBQ Project, 3) Experts have indicated that Colonialism formed from power of imperialism and capitalism.  Imperialism is also referred to as a high form of Capitalism.  In addition, all three of the mentioned definitions, Colonialism, capitalism and imperialism, are defined on political, cultural and economic domination and exploitation.  The country Kenya, located in the Great Lakes region of East Africa, entered the colonialism stage during the 1884-1885 Berlin Conference.  During the Berlin Conference, the rules of colonial occupation were outlined for Kenya, as well as other African countries.  The conference resulted in different arrangements and agreements for these countries set forth by the 1886 Anglo-German Agreement and European territorial arrangements.  Kenya was therefore given artificial boundaries without the consent of the Kenyan people.  The boundaries eventually created the large territory with more than forty independent communities.  The new transformed colonialization led to different issues, such as authoritarian forces, social, and economic changes.  (Nedge, 2) Scholars have discussed these issues and have debated on whether or not the change to colonialism to African countries actually helped their current economic or development status or worsened their status.  The current paper discusses the impact of colonialism on the current economic status and development of the country Kenya, Africa.

The implementation of colonialism during the Berlin Conference in the late 1880s led to an authoritarian change in the government.  Kenya saw an explosion of colonial military forces in their boundaries which led to immense genocide conditions for people who revolted against the colonial military and rulers.  In addition, the people part of the Agikuyu, Nadi, Abagusii, Giriama, and other communities were abolished from Kenya if not abiding with the colonial implementation.  The problem that occurred and the reason for rebellion was that British rulers were placing British leaders in place without consulting the community leaders; therefore, native chief councils were completely neglected and forced out of rule.  Total rule was put in place through the British system.  (Nedge, 2-3)  For instance, Ninety-seven percent of Kenya’s population is of tribal descendants.  When the country was colonized by the British in 1901, British settlers migrated to Kenya in order to take advantage of the climate and resources.  Upon doing so, this forced the native farmers and herders to smaller land or forced them to begin working for the British settlers.  The Kenyans resisted the colonial rulers and eventually by the 1950s, the rebellion against the colonial rulers led to Great Britain finally accepting Kenyan independence.

The Kenyan rebels were to thank for the independence of the Kenyan country and the first President of Kenya in 1964, Jomo Kenyatta.  The Kenyan rebels were referred to as a savage group called the “Mau Mau”.  The members of the group were said to pledge to slaughter the British and drive them out of Kenya.  Conflict on the versions of the Kenyan struggle for independence is debated between Kenyans and British forces.  The Kenyans, however, believe that the guerrilla warfare with the British was justified in their struggle to take back their country and become independent again.  (Johnson and McEnroe)  The British, on the other hand, referred to the Mau Mau as savages who were attacking innocent people and therefore, the British were forced to implement harsh measures in order to defeat the rebels.  Although the British did win the war against the rebels, the British gave up on the idea as Kenya as a British country and handed over the rule to the Kenyans.  (The DBQ Project, 5)  The post-colonial state of Kenya has been viewed as a patrimonial and autocratic presidential type of system, which resulted in worsened governance with problems in human’s rights and economic status. (Nedge, 4)

The purpose of the colonialism in Kenya was not to increase the benefits of the Africans residing in Kenya; it was to increase the economic benefits of the British settlers and leaders.   In fact, the British economic policy in Kenya included land alienation for European settlers, taxation on African population, and forced African labor.  In addition, other problems developed from colonialism, such as environmental degradation and African culture.  There was no set practice for land and British settlers were given access to forest land which resulted in massive deforestation.  (Nedge, 5)  In addition to the extreme environmental degradation, Kenya experience rural poverty.  In fact it was commonly known as a permanent feature of Kenyan life. The problems were attributed to the degradation of the forests due to colonialism and development, with insufficient development.  Furthermore, in the early colonial period, disease was a major problem in Kenya.  It is thought that the construction of the Uganda Railroad in the 1890s attributed to the speared of rinderpest in cattle disease, which led to fatalities in the human population.  The spread of small pox was also observed through the introduction from foreigners.  The combined effects with a drought in the late 1890s resulted in a great famine in the early 1900’s in Kenya regions.  (Rocheleau et al., 1040)

After Kenyan won independence, the Kenyan government was aware of the major crises in Kenya and underwent a plan in order to control the issues of underdevelopment, hunger and poverty.  The Kenyan government’s goal was to create a national plan geared towards the Kenyan economic development, with any environmental issues a concern of the colonial past. The Kenyan government continued to use plans on the logic of the Swynnerton Plan, which created a class of African farmers in the commercial farming sector during the 1950’s. This plan was for increasing land concentration and social stratification.  With the enforcement of this plan, it forced many more of the Kenyan residents into further poverty, hunger and unemployment problems. The problem with the plan was that the areas that were essential to agriculture were part of large estates; therefore, farmers without any type of capital or ability to invest the livestock needed were forced to sell or abandon their arms. (Rocheleau et al., 1044)

During the 1980s, other problems developed in Kenya, such as environmental and development problems.  Kenya was already experiencing land degradation problems in the beginning of the colonial period; however, other issues developed such as deforestation, energy shortages, and changes to biodiversity.  The first of the issues identified was soil erosion and watershed degradation.  The government addressed these issues as overcrowding and poor land use practices.  However, another problem rose with sedimentation in the rivers, which resulted in hydroelectric problems.  During the 1907’s, the environmental crises also become a global concern in regard to trees as the use as an energy source.  (Rocheleau et al., 1044)

Although Kenya inherited a colonial method of their state and had agriculture as their dominant source of occupation for their residents, the dominant position was sought through the appropriation of land from the local communities. The African population in Kenya was only the smallholders, which led to the unequal distribution of the land among the other problems mentioned above, such as disease, famine, poverty, droughts, environmental conditions, etc.  The colonial administration helped develop land reform in order to help the grievances of the independent state, but it did not help redistribute the land which has caused and led to problems that are seen in today’s Kenyan economic and political society.  Currently, the political development in Kenya since its independence and since the political elections in 2007, still show a number of issues such as land agricultural ownership issues, an increase in the private guerrilla military and the use of violence, as well as issues with the government and its leaders in regard to theft and use of violence against its citizens.  (Sundet et al., 13)

Through all the battles for independence with Great Britain from the late 1800’s to the mid-1950s, and the struggle for agricultural gain and prosperity, Kenya’s economy has been inconsistent since its independence.  As mentioned previously, the land ownership issues and delegation of land to farmers, as well as sedimentation, land erosion and deforestation, led to economic difficulties for the Kenyan republic.  At first, Kenya did see an increase in the economic growth by 6%; however, it continued to decline by 4% in the following decades.  After the millennium, an increase was observed by 7%.  As of the 2010-11 years, there was an additional growth of 5%.  In fact, it is suggested that Kenya has a positive trend and is in fact projected to be the first East African country to move out of the low-income status into a middle income status country.  (Denmark in Kenya)

The characteristics of the current political status and life of Kenya has brought about questions of the current status of the Kenya state, as well as its ability to manage its own resources in an efficient, correct and responsible manner in order to serve its people after acquiring independence from Great Britain. Kenya is, however, attributed with the strongest and most self-sufficient economy, as well as best educated population in the East African region.  (Sundet et al., 13)  Although Kenya is faced with many political issues, Kenya is still projected to increase from a low-economic status to a middle-class country.   Whether or not the colonialism can be attributed with the cause for the increase in economic status is still debated. Further investigation into the other countries in Africa that were underwent colonialism should be analyzed and compared to Kenya in order to determine a correlation.  Kenya has however, seen an increase in its economic status since becoming an independent country in the 1960s.

Works Cited

The DBQ Project.  How Did Colonialism Affect Kenya?  (2005). Retrieved from: http://moodle.tcaps.net/pluginfile.php/108546/mod_resource/content/1/Kenya%20DBQ%20imperialism.pdf

Denmark in Kenya.  Economy. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. http://kenya.um.dk/en/about-kenya-new/economy-new/

Johnson, J. and McEnroe, T.  Resisting British Colonialism in Kenya. Hosftra University. Retrieved from: http://people.hofstra.edu/alan_j_singer/CoursePacks/ResistingBritishColonialisminKenya.pdf

Ndege, P.O.  “Colonialism and its Legacies in Kenya”. Lecture delivered during Fulbright – Hays Group project abroad program: July 5th to August 6th 2009 at the Moi University Main Campus. http://international.iupui.edu/kenya/resources/Colonialism-and-Its-Legacies.pdf

Rocheleau, D.E., Steinberg, PE., Benjamin, PA.  Environment, Development, Crisis, and Crusade: Ukambani, Kenya, 1890-l990. (1995).  World Development. 23(6):1037-1051. http://mailer.fsu.edu/~psteinbe/garnet-psteinbe/worlddev.pdf

Sundet, G., Scanteam, Moen, E., Norad.  Political Economy Analysis of Kenya. (2009). Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.  file:///C:/Users/owner/Downloads/Political%20Economy%20Analysis%20of%20Kenya.pdf